Eagles embarrassed by Falcons

PHILADELPHIA — Embarrassing was the easy way to describe the Eagles’ 30-17 loss Sunday to the Atlanta Falcons.

Season ticket holders ought to bring charges against Andy Reid and the Eagles for conspiracy to play football.

The silver lining in the brutal setback was the Eagles inched closer to uncovering why they’re so ordinary.

It wasn’t the defensive coordinator the Eagles fired over the bye week. The Eagles lost this game falling into a 14-0 hole in the first quarter, not collapsing in the fourth quarter.

It wasn’t turnovers, for the Eagles had zero.

Unless we’re totally missing something Reid senses it might be quarterback Michael Vick, who it appears nearly handed the ball to rookie Nick Foles for the last series.

After contributing 191 very painful and ugly passing yards, including a touchdown, Vick reacted to a question about being scrutinized by Reid.

“Obviously he’s thinking about making a change at the quarterback position,” Vick said.

When the official quote sheets came out Falcons tight end Tony Gonzalez added to the drama.

“I talked with some of their players,” Gonzalez said, “and they said some things are going to go down here in Philly.”

Alas, there was no follow-up.Foles, who showed quickness exiting the locker room, warmed up on the sideline before the final Eagles series.

When Vick was asked if Foles was supposed to play, the veteran quarterback responded, “I wanted to fight, to finish.”

For too much of the day the Eagles were unable to finish, and in the words of wide receiver Jeremy Maclin, who led the squad with six receptions, not showing enough fight.

“I’m just saying what it looked like,” Maclin said. “How we played, how the game ended I didn’t see any pride. I didn’t see any heart. This is the whole team, myself included. We didn’t get it done today.”

Reid obviously is under scrutiny as well. At least partly due to the weather related state of emergency, the Eagles cancelled Big Red’s Monday presser. It’s tentatively scheduled for Tuesday. Considering the egg the Eagles laid, it would surprise no one if someone else was at the podium explaining that it’s now a nine-game season for the Eagles, who with third straight loss slid to 3-4.

Reid, for the second straight loss, called the performance of himself and his team “embarrassing.”

Installing Todd Bowles as defensive coordinator was an abject failure on this Sunday as Matt Ryan, the product of Exton and Penn Charter School, led the Falcons to points on their first six possessions.

Reid offered no defense. The transition bothered the players.

“Listen, how can I can stand up here and tell you it didn’t with the way we played?” Reid said. “I can’t tell you that other than we’ve got to play better. So call the right plays and then execute the plays. It comes down to that. It’s that simple. Talking about it isn’t getting it done. We’ve got to do it. We didn’t do it today.”

Ryan threw for 262 yards and three touchdowns and scrambled for 18 yards against the Bowles defense that hit the field with Casey Matthews playing alongside linebackers DeMeco Ryans and Akeem Jordan. Mychal Kendricks sat out the first series for disciplinary reasons.

The Falcons promptly went 80 yards in 16 plays, Ryan connecting with Drew Davis for a 15-yard score on a busted coverage with safety Kurt Coleman to set the tone for a long day.

It got progressively worse for Bowles and his players.

Ultimately it was the first time Reid, in his 14th season, was beaten in a game immediately after the bye, ending a 13-0 run. Nonetheless Reid had no second thoughts about firing defensive coordinator Juan Castillo during the bye.

“I did what I did and what I thought was right at the time,” Reid said.

The Eagles never got closer than 14-7 in the first half, the Falcons exiting with a 24-7 lead at the intermission on Ryan’s 63-yard throw to Julio Jones, who beat Nnamdi Asomugha and Nate Allen, and the first of Matt Bryant’s three field goals.

Though the Eagles didn’t turn the ball over they were unable to force the Falcons to punt until the fourth quarter, when they made the opposition go three-and-out with 5:35 remaining.

LeSean McCoy contributed a touchdown run and caught a scoring pass for the Eagles.

“The game was bad. This team isn’t bad, though,” Asomugha said. “This is a good team. Unfortunately we show stuff like that and then the question is, ‘well, are you?’ But we believe in ourselves. We know we’re a good team. An effort like we put out today it’s just not us.”

The Eagles are 11-12 in their last 23 starts. They have some time on their hands as their next game is one week from Monday in New Orleans.

As for Reid, he flatly rejected a question intimating he would step down.

Asked if he felt the players needed to hear another voice, Reid responded “You want to talk to them?”